stanley kowalski quotes + analysis

Question 1

“I am the king around here, so don’t forget it!”

Answer 1

• scene 8, masculinity
• exemplifies stanley’s deep sense of patriarchal entitlement and his need to assert power over those around him
• his assertion that he is the “king” highlights his belief in his superiority and his role as the unquestioned authority in his home
• It also suggests his insecurity, as his need to proclaim his dominance indicates that he may feel threatened by others, particularly blanche, who represents a different social class and upbringing.
• stanley’s brute force and assertiveness, especially in the context of the post-war societal shift, reflects the clash between old southern aristocracy (embodied by blanche) and the new working-class masculinity (stanley) that was on the rise at the time

Question 2

“You know what luck is? Luck is believing you’re lucky. That’s all.”

Answer 2

• scene 11, masculinity
• stanley’s view of luck reflects his belief that life is about power, will, and action rather than chance or fate
• he’s the kind of person who believes in creating his own destiny, dismissing any notion of fate or luck as irrelevant
• his view contrasts sharply with blanche’s more romantic and idealized perceptions of life
• in a way, stanley’s belief in his own agency and control over his environment is what makes him so dangerous—he refuses to acknowledge any higher moral or spiritual order, operating purely based on his own desires and impulses
• his philosophy also hints at his cynicism and deep lack of faith in anything beyond the material and the tangible

Question 3

“when you’re swindled under the Napoleonic code I’m swindled too. and I don’t like to be swindled.”

Answer 3

• scene 2, social class + masculinity
• repetition highlights his focal concern - he doesn’t like to be cheated
• to be cheated is to be undermined and to be undermined is to lose one’s power
• he needs control over blanche and all the things she’s lying about
• views himself as the pinnacle of truth
• the reference to the napoleonic code is an attempt at stanley to converge his language upwards to sound more intelligent, to allow him to assert his authority in this matter since he knows his physicality cannot achieve that

Question 4

“some men are took in by this Hollywood glamor stuff and some men are not.”

Answer 4

• scene 3, illusion vs reality
• he makes clear that he is not interested in women who need to be complimented about their looks, something that Blanche needs very much
• Stanley’s contempt toward women such as Blanche lays the foundation for his violent attack later in the play

Question 5

“stell-lahhhh! . . . i want my baby down here. stella, stella!”

Answer 5

• scene 3, violence
• his emotional outburst epitomizes the psychological hold he has on stella
• ‘baby’ derogitry
• stanley realizes that he has temporarily lost stella, but he knows that if he begs, she will return to him
• stella can’t help herself, and stanley knows it

Question 6

“something ape-like about him.”

Answer 6

• scene 3, blanche,
• blanche invokes their shared southern upbringing that does not allow for such animalistic conduct—or so she suggests
• however, we soon learn that blanche is just as bestial as stanley, just as driven by impulses and desires that are less than tender and formal
• again and again, blanche protests too much, as she is both appalled and attracted by stanley’s brutishness

Question 7

“we’ve had this date with each other from the beginning!”

Answer 7

• scene 10, conflict and violence
• fueled by alcohol, the excitement of the new baby, and finally being alone with Blanche, stanley is beginning to let blanche hear what he truly thinks of her
• immediately after these lines, stanley laughs cruelly at blanche
• the stage directions indicate that the shadows are “of a grotesque and menacing form.”
• stanley’s laughter is the beginning of the rape.
• the rape is about power and domination. it takes place offstage and takes stanley beyond our empathy
• he goes from sexual to perverse. reference to fate - one of them had to win in the end

Question 8

‘roughly dressed in blue denim work clothes.’

Answer 8

• scene 1, masculinity, new america
  dress pictures him as working class, casual and modern right from the offset
• the stereotype of the new
  american man - motivated and driven by money/power
• highlighting his energy and vitality through vibrant, jagged attire
• the colors ‘red’ and ‘blue’ are primary colors, symbolizing control over the creation of all other colors, which foreshadows stanley’s desire for dominance from the outset
• the ‘denim work clothes’ signify physical labor, further reinforcing Stanley’s raw masculinity
• he embodies the new South, representing the working-class immigrant striving to assert his place in a rapidly changing society

Question 9

‘Bears the emblem of the gaudy seed-bearer’ ‘animal joy.’

Answer 9

use as embedded quote linking to stanley being animalistic

Question 10

‘I pulled you down off them columns.’

Answer 10

• scene 8, social class
• old South vs. new america
• he converts stella and knocks her off her elitist pedestal
• this is why he is threatened by blanche - her elitism in both class and intelligence makes him feel emasculated

Question 11

“stanley kowalski - survivor of the stone age.”

Answer 11

• scene 4, blanche, masculinity
• views him as sub-human and brutish
• the sibilance mocks him. she believes his needs are basic, his behaviour is ugly and that he has an untamed and unpredictable manner
• he encompasses both the past and the future

Question 12

'’I want my baby down here.’ / They meet at the stairs with ‘low, animal moans.’’

Answer 12

• scene 3, ??
• stanley is sexually assertive and his sexual magnetism seems beyond stella’s control
• she slinks back to him on more than one occasion
• their passion for each other is below civilisation - it is raw and instinctive
• their active sex life is the only successful part of their marriage
• their love is depicted as primal, inevitable, indistinctive, similar to his violent actions
• very obsessive relationship

Question 13

don’t ever talk that way to me! ‘pig-polak-disgusting-vulgar-greasy!’ - them kind of words have been on your tongue and your sister’s too much here. who do you two think you are? a pair of queens?

Answer 13

• scene 8, social class
• stanley accuses the sisters of disrespecting him because of his heritage, class and manners
• he wants them to understand that he is the master of the house. he is right, they don’t respect him, and the eruption of raw emotions creates fear in the sisters and suspense for the audience

Question 14

“you must have had lots of banging around in the army and now that you’re out, you make up for it be treating inanimate objects with such fury!”

Answer 14

• ??, blanche,
• blanche accurately describes stanley’s brutish nature and personality. over the course of the play, stanley smashes a radio, a bottle, a dish, stella and eventually assaults blanche
• this quote can also be an acknowledgment to the effects of war on a person; stanley’s propensity for noise and violence may be a result of trauma or habit

Question 15

“liquor goes fast in hot weather”

Answer 15

• scene 1, illusion vs reality
• stanley uses verbal irony to let blanche know where his liquor has been disappearing to
• sarcastically suggesting that the hot weather is to blame, he knows that it’s not and blanche has been helping herself to the liquor
• the motif of light is used here, to reinforce stanley’s warning that he sees through Blanche and is not fooled by her

Question 16

SD: ‘outside a train approaches’

Answer 16

• scene 4, masculinity
• association between stanley and the train can allegories a few things, including the approach if masculine presence and stanleys association with modernity
• acts functionally so that Stanley goes unheard, so he can listen to the rest of blanche and stellas conversation about him being ‘common’ and ‘like an animal’

Question 17

‘she didnt say nothing that shut her up like a clam’

Answer 17

• scene 2, masculinity, social class
• the use of informal, colloquial language with the double negation (“didn’t say nothing”) reflects Stanley’s linguistic and social background, highlighting his working-class origins and blunt manner of speaking
• the metaphor of a clam is particularly significant; clams can contain pearls, which symbolize purity, healing, and new beginnings
• stanley symbolically silences and suppresses aspirations. This moment foreshadows the destruction of Blanche’s hopes, as Stanley exerts control over her and ultimately shatters her dreams of a new life, just as a clam’s pearl is hidden and often destroyed in the process of being opened